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Holly Go Softly
A
song that was probably the most loved, seldom remembered hit, that
was never a hit, was Holly Go Softly by an Arizona group called
Cornerstone. I have searched for quite some time to find some
information on the group with not much success. Very little seems to
have surfaced about this group that disappeared as quickly as they
emerged. What I have found is that they were from Phoenix and the
lead singer was Steph Hudson.
If you search the forums you’ll
find lots of people who say they remember the song being played in
their hometown including mine, here in Syracuse. Below are links to
WOLF surveys from 1970 where the song reached number ONE. Everyone
liked it, why wasn’t it a HUGE hit? Some say it was
released at the same time as another version of the song by a group
called The Magnificent Men and the two sort of canceled each
other. That according to Dave Bupp, lead singer for The
Magnificent Men. No one knew which to play.
There is a
fellow on one forum named Billie Courtright who says he met Hudson
some years back and obtained the original sheet music for the song
from Hudson. Others say they saw Hudson play in Denver in the 70’s
and thought the group was from that area. They did apparently take a
shot at the pop charts with two other singles. “When You Wake Me
Girl” on Liberty 56110 which preceeded Holly, and “With Her, Father
Paul” on Liberty 56179 shortly after.
As I have written about
in the past with Thomas & Richard Frost, changes at Liberty
Records during that time period seemed to keep promotions of the
Liberty artists very still, poor at best. Possibly one of the
reasons that the Fifth Dimension left for Bell Records from the
Liberty owned Soul City label. (Notice the promo copy is the older
Liberty label).
The song premiered as a “Hitbound” on WOLF’s
Hot 30 on February 25, 1970. It remained Hitbound until it
entered the chart at #25 on March 18. It climbed to 18, 14,
and to #4 for 2 weeks. Then it replaced Edison
Lighthouse at #1 on April 22 for one week. It finally inched it’s
way back down but remaining in the top ten for another two weeks,
finally falling off the chart on May 20.
Holly Go Softly was
on Billboard’s Bubbling Under chart at #104 starting March 21, 1970.
It stayed on that chart for four weeks. The single was on Liberty
Records # 56148 and was more upbeat that the almost-ballad Mag-Men
version which didn’t chart at all.
Holly is co-written by
Toni Wine who penned such hits as A Groovy Kind Of Love, Black
Pearl, Candida and What Are You Doing Sunday among many others
including some she had recorded herself. She has toured with
many great acts and still does to this day. You can visit her
website at www.ToniWine.com.
The song
itself is about, for lack of any other way to explain it, a kept man
who is supported by keeping this woman Holly Kingsley, happy while
he is waiting for his big break. Realizing all the while that
it's wrong. I never paid much attention to what the song was
about until I played it one evening on my Saturday Night Oldies Show
on Y94FM. What some people will do to succeed, I
thought. Oh
well!
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